Overview
Kelly W. Weil is a partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP's Santa Monica office, where she litigates on behalf of consumers, businesses, municipalities, whistleblowers, and injured individuals. Kelly handles a wide variety of complex cases in state and federal courts throughout California including environmental, qui tam, elder abuse, catastrophic injury, wrongful death, fraud, and consumer class actions through settlement, arbitration, and trial. Kelly is passionate about preserving natural resources for future generations and actively handles a wide variety of environmental cases relating to contaminated air, soil, and water.
Throughout her career, Kelly has taken hundreds of depositions of corporate executives, environmental consultants, regulatory agencies, adverse witnesses, and experts. She is a zealous advocate who uses an interdisciplinary approach to bring cases over the finish line and frequently serves on trial teams and in leadership roles. Kelly was named a Super Lawyers’ Rising Star for 2022 and 2023 and a Super Lawyer for 2024 and 2025.
A Santa Monica native, Kelly received her Bachelor of Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she majored in Political Theory and interned for the office of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. She received her J.D. from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, where she served as a judicial extern to the Hon. Philip S. Gutierrez, United States District Court for the Central District of California, and as a clinical extern with the Loyola Project for the Innocent (a student clinic which has successfully aided in exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals). Kelly clerked full-time throughout law school for a Los Angeles civil litigation firm advocating on behalf of plaintiffs where she continued her work as a practicing attorney for another six years before joining CPM.
Since 2015, Kelly has been involved with the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice, where she serves as a volunteer attorney and sits on the Leadership Council. As a volunteer attorney, Kelly has been successful in obtaining numerous Domestic Violence Restraining Orders on behalf of victims of domestic abuse (both physical and financial).
When Kelly is not working, she enjoys cooking, doing yoga, and spending time at the beach with her family and friends. While she has remained geographically close to her roots, Kelly also loves to travel and has studied abroad in Sweden, Italy, and Costa Rica. She lives in Topanga Canyon with her husband, daughter, and son.
Experience
Representative Matters
Throughout her career, Kelly has represented thousands of clients in individual, mass tort, and class action cases against pharmaceutical companies, public utilities, energy companies, and automotive manufacturers.
Notable cases:
- Represents cancer victims and survivors in litigation against Sterigenics and others relating to emissions of carcinogenic Ethylene Oxide from Sterigenics’ Vernon, California sterilization facilities.
- Serves as lead counsel representing thousands of individuals in litigation arising from Hydrogen Sulfide exposure from the Dominguez Channel.
- Represents municipalities and private water companies in investigation and litigation related to PFAS-contaminated groundwater.
- Served as an active member of the trial team and Plaintiffs' Steering Committee for the Southern California Gas Leak Cases (JCCP 4861) against SoCalGas and Sempra Energy, which involved the largest known anthropogenic release of methane (a powerful greenhouse gas) in U.S. history. The case resulted in a settlement of $1,800,000,000.00 (one billion, eight hundred million dollars).
- Served as lead counsel in cases arising from death and injury caused by COVID-19 upon cruise ships operated by Princess Cruises, resulting in confidential settlements.
- Represented businesses and individuals in litigation arising from a crude oil spill from a ruptured Amplify Energy pipeline off the shore of Orange County. The case resulted in a settlement of $95,000,000.00 (ninety five million dollars) from Amplify Energy and various shipping companies.
- Represented plaintiffs against Boston Scientific Corporation and others in product liability litigation arising from the implantation of transvaginal mesh.
- Represented plaintiffs against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation in pharmaceutical litigation arising from use of the drug Zometa.
Honors & Awards
Honors & Recognitions
Finalist for Consumer Attorneys of California’s Consumer Attorney of the Year, 2022
Finalist for Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles’ Rising Star Award, 2021
Honored as a Southern California “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers, 2022 and 2023
Honored as a Southern California “Super Lawyer” by Super Lawyers, 2024 and 2025
Honored as one of the 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers in America by Lawdragon, 2025
Publications
In the News
Blog Posts
Blog Posts
Affiliations
Civic
Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice, Leadership Council and Volunteer Attorney (2015-Present)
Professional
American Bar Association
American Association for Justice
Consumer Attorneys of California, Member, Board of Directors (2021-present)
Los Angeles County Bar Association, Member of Executive Committee, Litigation Section (2022-present), Complex Courts Co-Chair (2024-present)
Consumer Attorney Association of Los Angeles
Practices
- Aviation / Helicopter Accidents
- Consumer Protection Class Actions
- Contamination, Toxic Torts, and Environmental Justice
- Defamation
- Defective Products / Mass Torts
- Elder Abuse
- Environmental Law
- False Claims / Whistleblower Law
- Land Use and Coastal Public Access
- Personal Injury & Wrongful Death
- Pharmaceutical Litigation
- Predatory Lending
- Securities / Financial Fraud
- Wildfire Litigation
Education
University of California, Los Angeles, B.S.
- Dean’s Honors
Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, J.D.
Admissions
- California
- All Federal Courts in California
